Gardner, through Grendel’s narration, really emphasizes the eyes of others—Grendel’s mother’s eyes, the eyes of the other grumbling creatures in the cave, the bull’s eyes, etc. Why? What is Gardner’s point?

The eyes are truth to the soul. I tried to avoid the cliche "windows to the soul". Really though much of this story involves decoding these characters. The eyes hold the real motivations and essence of each character.